LIMPOPO – The chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) in the Greater Giyani Municipality, Eric Makondo, was grilled during a full council sitting on Tuesday on his handling of the investigation into the municipality’s assets auction, which took place on February 24, 2024.

While submitting a report on the allegedly flawed auction of municipal assets to a full council sitting on Tuesday, Makondo highlighted several irregularities that his committee had identified regarding the event. These include seven municipal assets, which he said the committee found were auctioned without the municipality’s council approval.

He also pointed out irregular communication between the municipality and the auctioneer, stating that, at times, communication was informal and conducted via WhatsApp, which does not align with the municipality’s professional standards.

“The incomplete list of assets was sent via email to the auctioneer with the promise that the remaining list of assets would be sent later via WhatsApp, indicating that communication with the auctioneer was not always formal,” he said.

He further indicated that his committee found that two of the seven vehicles that were auctioned without the municipality’s approval were returned to the municipality under questionable circumstances and that the auctioneer took time to report back to the municipality after the auction was done.

What infuriated the council even more was that the money from the auction was deposited months later into the municipality’s account on different dates.

“An amount of R1 million was deposited into the municipality’s primary bank account on June 25, 2024, and R2 million on October 23, 2024. This is five and nine months later after the auction,” he said.

Makondo recommended that the matter be referred to the municipality’s Financial Misconduct Board or external investigators. He further indicated that while doing so, the council should also consider the cost implications to avoid spending more money on the investigation than the amount stolen.

In what appeared to be a politically motivated scenario, with two ANC factions openly jostling for power, Makondo was heckled and accused of failing to conduct a proper investigation by not identifying the individuals who sent emails and WhatsApp messages containing a list of assets to the auctioneer.

Although he argued that this was beyond MPAC’s competency and required individuals with the ability to access communication records, he was still accused of doing a shoddy job. Some said he was hiding the names of individuals who are presumed to have been involved in the flawed auction.

“We all know who the head of councillors is. If something like this happens and nothing is done about it, then the head must be removed,” said Tiyani Nkuna, an ANC member, indirectly suggesting that Mayor Thandi Zitha was involved in the matter and therefore must be removed.

The accusations mainly came from ANC members not aligned with the mayor in the ongoing ANC branch nominations, ahead of the conference to elect the party’s next representatives in the municipality.

After several speakers, the mayor took the stand, telling the council that an investigation should first be conducted to determine what happened before people jump to conclusions and start accusing one another.

“I would like to support what Cllr Baloyi has said, that we need to seek external investigators before reporting individuals to the police, as we do not yet know who the perpetrator is. At this stage, we are merely suspecting individuals who may turn out to be innocent. External investigators are not biased; they release reports based on their findings. Such a report would guide us on the next steps, including determining whether there is a need to open a case. This is indeed a serious matter. We need to understand why the money was deposited after six months, where it was during that period, and in whose bank account it was held. Right now, we are accusing each other without having the full facts, which is why we want the truth to come out.

“Additionally, we want to know who communicated with the auctioneer via WhatsApp and who authorised such communication. Any transaction or decision within the municipality should go through proper channels and be approved and signed off, not conducted informally through WhatsApp. This is why we all seek clarity on what truly happened,” explained the mayor.

In the end, the council adopted a motion approving the use of external investigators to handle the case.

An update is expected to be provided at the next council sitting, provided the investigators would have completed their work.